


Babel

by MrProphet



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 18:24:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1438159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Stargate is the property of MGM.</p></blockquote>





	Babel

“Feznik molluba nas tangi hellam mo working soon,” Daniel said.

“Wait!” Jack said. “That; that bit there, that made sense!”

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. “It all made sense, Jack. We’ve all been making sense the whole time.”

“I know I have,” Jack agreed, “but the rest of you have been talking gibberish.”

Daniel looked to Teal’c, who said: “You are incorrect, O’Neill. I have been able to understand each of you.”

“We were infected by a virus that affected our ability to comprehend language,” Carter explained, “but the virus attacked the peripheral visual and auditory receptors, rather than the sensory or speech centres of the brain. We were able to speak and, because we knew what we were saying, to process our own speech as rational and ordered, but what we heard or read was scrambled before it could reach the brain.

“Fortunately, Teal’c was unaffected and has been able to communicate whatever ideas we were able to come up with on-site back to Stargate Command.”

Jack rubbed his arm in mock discomfort. “The result of which was a series of painful shots?” he asked. “Are we cured now, or is this temporary? More importantly, are we still infectious?”

“The virus should be cleared from our systems in an hour,” Carter assured him.

Jack sighed and took a seat with his back against the wall of the Stargate’s cavern. “So, which of you worked this one out?”

“A little of each,” Daniel replied, “with some help from Teal’c; and of course Dr Fraiser formulated the antiviral. Sam worked out most of the technical side of things, including the location of the virus and its vector.”

“It isn’t completely airborne,” Sam explained. “It’s held in the speakers which greeted us on arrival; aerosolised and dispersed by the sound wave. I would imagine that initial dispersal would have been via a ha’tak vessel’s sky-speakers.”

“The announcement said that this was the punishment for offending God and I found a name in the hieroglyphs on the walls of the atrium; Nimrod.”

“Nimrod? Like… idiot?”

Daniel shook his head. “Nimrod was a mighty king, and in Earth mythology the builder of the Tower of Babel.” He indicated the Stargate behind him.

“That’s not a tower.”

“No,” Carter agreed, “but it is a means of challenging the reign of the gods; of storming the gates of heaven. There must have been a revolt here. The remains we’ve found indicate a fortress world; if the slaves took control it would be almost impossible to retake. Instead, the Goa’uld released a virus to break the unity of their enemies.”

“What happened to the slaves?” Jack asked.

“They carved the story on the walls, then – according to their writings – scattered across the galaxy to avoid persecution. Some must have made it to Earth and been able to communicate the story to our ancestors, where an act of Goa’uld was recorded as an act of God. It’s a shame the survivors couldn’t have been clearer, but since they wouldn’t have understood a word that their hosts were saying…”

“Do you think they ever adjusted?”

“We’ll probably never know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Stargate is the property of MGM.


End file.
